Naruto: Blood Ties
by Steven Grimm
Summary: Koshi Hayashi's journey from humble genin to jonin of the Hidden Leaf. As a person with a mysterious family and a special gift, the once alone ninja tries to make the world safe for the people he now calls friends, all while his sister, Sukiko deals with the harsh loneliness of ANBU life. R&R.
1. Prologue

Naruto: Blood Ties

Prologue

"Eiko-sensei, what are you doing?"

"I'm doing what I have to, Yuae."

Before Yuae could respond, the small two bedroom apartment was rocked by a distant explosion. After taking a second to regain her footing, she responded,

"What you have to? You have to raise and protect your children!"

Eiko let out a soft grunt as her brows furrowed in anger and determination.

" _Everything_ I do is for my children."

"Then why are you leaving? Do you want your children to grow up orphans?"

"The Nine Tails is destroying the village as we speak. If I don't help hold it off they won't grow up at _all_. And Kai would haunt me if I ever did that."

She tilted her head down and grabbed the pendant around her neck.

"But.", Yuae trailed off.

"No buts. Take the children and get out of the village before it's too late."

Eiko removed the pendant and separated it into two parts. Placing one around the neck of her 8 month old twins and giving them both a kiss on the forehead. Tears started to form and slowly roll down her cheek.

"I love you both. _So much_. And I wish I could tell you that every day you're growing up. But sometimes the choices we make keep us from doing what we want. And sometimes they not only hurt you. But the ones you love too."

A flash of her husband Kai flashed before her eyes. Bruised and bloodied. But with a smile on his face. A little smile appeared on her face. _No matter what, he always found a reason to smile._ Her thoughts shifted back to the present. And her last words to her children.

She continued her speech, "You might feel alone growing up. People might give you dirty looks. But _always_ remember that you have each other. An unbreakable bond between brother and sister. Use that. And take all the pain. And grow from it. Become better shinobi.

Better people than me or your father."

Another blast rocked the building.

"I'll always love you, Sukiko, Kōshi. Your father and I will always be watching over you. _Always_."

She was barely able to keep from breaking down right here. More tears leaking out of her forever tormented soul. But it wasn't over yet. So she pulled herself together.

"Goodbye."

She walked over to Yuae, who was still stunned by the heartfelt goodbye given by her sensei.

"Yuae, you are already a great ninja. But soon you'll even surpass me. I know your duty is to the village. But try and be there for my children when you can. They'll need your strength. Please."

"Yes master. I'll do everything I can for them."

"Alright. Now take them and go! Now!"

Yuae grabbed both children, wrapped snugly in their blankets, oblivious of the chaos around them. She ran to the door and turned around before leaving.

"Goodbye, Eiko," said Yuae. A single tear rolling down her cheek.

Eiko stood in silence as Yuae turned and ran out the door. Eiko darted out the door and leapt onto the neighboring apartment building. Finding where the chaos was coming from she started leaping from building to building. Making her way to the fight. She pulled out a kunai as she neared her destination. She saw the rest of the ninja, probably twenty or thirty, surrounding the Third Hokage, Saurtobi. She landed next to one.

"How we doing," asked Eiko, almost rhetorically noticing the massive beast and almost as massive pile of dead shinobi.

"Nice to see you've finally arrived," replied the Shinobi. It looked like he got clipped at some point during the fight but was lucky compared to some of the others,

He continued, "Just look for yourself. Even Lord Third can barely handle the power of the Nine Tails. Unless we figure out something quick the whole village is done for. And Minato is nowhere to be found!"

"He'll show up. I'm sure he's just preparing a fancy entrance as usual," joked Eiko, attempting to ease the Shinobis worry.

Just then the Nine Tails made another swing in their location and she barely made it out of the way. _Alright, time to get serious_ , she told herself. She leaped into the air, simultaneously tossing a dozen kunai in front of her.

"Fire Style: Flaming Kunai Barrage," shouted Eiko.

Her body engulfed in light blue chakra and the kunai in front of her caught fire. She proceeded to grab and throw the kunai at an inhuman speed one after another. Her arms becoming almost invisible to the naked eye. Every kunai hit its mark. But the beast didn't even seem to notice. She started falling back to the ground. _That attack would've decimated a normal opponent._ But before she could form a follow up thought she was sideswiped by one of the beasts many tails. She crashed into the ground, leaving an indentation in the earth below. She tried to muster the strength to get up but couldn't. Her breaths were shallow as she realized the beast had shattered the left side of her ribcage and probably punctured a lung.

She couldn't move, but somehow found the strength to start crying.

 _I just wish I could see their faces again. See them walk across that stage and become shinobi. Standing proud with their Leaf Village headbands. Smiling and waving as they noticed their mother in the crowd. Then have children of their own someday. Starting the beautiful process all over again._

Despite the grim situation, she found solace knowing that she would finally be reunited with her long lost love in the afterlife. She managed to smile through the pain. The light began to fade and the beast's tail came down, finishing off its wounded prey without a second thought. The smiling faces of her children and husband the last image to cross her mind.


	2. Chapter 1

12 Years Later…

Kōshi took a slow deep breath as sweat started to run down his forehead and lower back. The sweat on his nose started slowly levitating as a dense mist started pouring out of his mouth and nose. He exhaled. Causing the almost liquid gas to flow like a misty waterfall and envelop his body and immediate surroundings. He felt the calm, cool water release chakra start to fade and felt the archaic warm fire release chakra start to build. He coughed. Loosing focus and causing the mist to liquefy and fall to the ground. Drenching him in the process.

"At this rate you're never gonna make chunin," said Sukiko passive-aggressively. Although Kōshi knew it was more the former than the latter.

"Hey, this has nothing to do with me making chunin. I can do everything that you can do," bit back Kōshi, "So I don't see why you would pass and not me."

"It isn't about what you do or don't know. It's about using the abilities you have to go above and beyond your limits. You were blessed with a kekkei genkai so if you can't even do one jutsu utilizing it. Then I don't see them passing you. Plus, the fact that you hardly do your school work doesn't help."

It was true. Kōshi was born with a trait that very few ever have. A kekkei genkai where the user has a natural affinity for two chakra natures. In this case fire and water. Instead of the usual one. This allowed him to combine the two chakras into a new form, Steam Release. Although he had to admit it was much harder than it sounded.

"I've been here for three hours trying to get this down."

"And for three hours you've failed miserably."

"Well, I'll keep trying until I do it," said Kōshi, voice full of determination.

Sukiko was about to give another negative remark when she was stopped by Master Yuae, leader of Team 9.

She interjected, "Still working on your Steam Release, huh, Kōshi?"

"Yup, and I'll get it. Even if I have to use every bit of my chakra!"

She let out a short giggle, "I'm sure you will. You're turning into quite the shinobi. You too Suki. Which is why after raising you and spending the last year as team leader I recommended you guys for the chunin exams."

"Awesome! Team 9, ready to take on the chunin exams.

"Sounds like fun," said Sukiko sarcastically.

Yuae made a slightly puzzled look on her face with her hand on her chin, then asked,

"Speaking of Team 9, has anyone seen Maki?"

"He's probably still asleep, lazy bum," answered Sukiko.

"Alright, you guys wanna come with me to wake him up?"

"Sure, why not," moaned Sukiko.

Kōshi responded immediately after, "Nah, I think I'm gonna get a bit more practice in. Then maybe grab some lunch. I'll see you guys later."

"Alright, see ya," said Yuae happily as she waved goodbye.

With the distraction gone he could get back to focusing on getting this jutsu down. He might have failed twenty three times but twenty fourth times the charm. He got back into his pose and started pooling his chakra near his mouth, then releasing it as mist again. _Come on Kōshi, just smoothly add in the fire chakra. Without removing the water. Just like a nice soup. Mmm, soup… Wait, no. Focus._ He then felt the mist gradually heating up and begin to boil. _I'm doing it. I'm doing it. I'm-_

His focus shifted from the systematic flow of chakra in his body to the unknown voice that broke his concentration. The water then spilled on him for the twenty fourth consecutive time. Except this time the water was really hot.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," he yelled as the near boiling water covered his body. But as he turned towards the mysterious voice his pain began to subside and he noticed there was a girl standing there. A _cute_ girl.

"Whoa, what kind of chakra was that? I've never seen any like that before," said the girl.

"Um, I, uh, well, fire and water put together. So, uh, steam, I guess," responded Kōshi, stumbling over his words. Every time he talks to a girl it's like it's his first time. _So, uh, steam,_ he thought to himself mockingly, _what the hell?_

"Well that was pretty cool. How you boiled that water with your chakra."

"You should see it when I do it right. It's way cooler."

"Did you go to school here? How come I haven't seen you around before?"

"Oh yeah, I graduated last year and my master has been taking me on missions trying to perfect my skills. We're a part of team 9."

"Oh, that makes sense. I was wondering why there was a missing team between teams 7, 8, and 10."

"Yup, that's us," said Kōshi as he scratched the back of his head.

"What's your name, anyway?"

"Oh, my name is Kōshi. What's yours?

"It's nice to meet you Kōshi, my name is Ino," said the girl with a smile.

 _Hmm, Ino. A pretty name to match a pretty girl,_ thought Kōshi, _and she's a blonde too. Kaching._

"Um, hello? Kōshi? Are you in there?"

"Oh, sorry. It must be all this training. I actually just finished and was headed to lunch. Uh, would you like to join me?"

"I'd like to but my break is almost over. I gotta get back to my team."

"Oh, right, of course," said Kōshi as he thought, _sure, it's not just cause of my face. Stupid damn face. Stupid._

"I'm really sorry. Tomorrow maybe? How does barbeque at 12 sound?"

"Yeah, that sounds great," _I'm sure you'll be there to see my stupid face, that's for sure._

"Alright, see you then," she said as she turned away, "I need to go train for the Chunin Exams with my team."

"Alright, good luck with your training." _You better see me then._

 _Well, stupid face, you've done it again. Scorin' the babes left and right._

"Wait, did she say Chunin Exams? Damn it that means I might have to fight her. Great, odds are the girl I take on my first date will be the first girl I beat up."

Deciding to keep his wallet from getting light he decided just to get ramen for lunch then train for the rest of the day. As he walked towards the exit of the training grounds he had a thought, _I wish I had parents to buy me dinner. Or to welcome me home. Or-_ He pushed the thoughts out of his mind. No amount of sad thoughts or hope would make him have parents. He then thought about what his parents were like. His dad remained completely shrouded in mystery and had no idea who he was. He didn't even know what he looked like. At least with his mom he had pictures and stories from Yuae Sensei. Apparently she was a great shinobi. Who's mastery of fire release and kunai wielding earned her praise amongst the villagers and shinobi of the leaf. _Must be where I got my kunai skills. And my fire style._ He then thought about where he got his water style. Due to it being extremely rare in the Land of Fire. Although nothing was impossible. _Must've been dad I guess._

Before he could ponder the thought any further he had finally arrived at Ichiraku Ramen. The best and most famous ramen joint in the Land of Fire. He sat down and thought of what he was going to get.

The cook approached and asked, "What do you want today, son?"

"Hmm, pork shyoyu ramen with boiled egg."

"Coming right up."

As he was sitting there he wondered if the girl, Ino, was being genuine. _It felt like she was._ But Kōshi had a bad history of people being nice just because he was an orphan. That's what he hated most about not having parents. People pitied him. They didn't want to be friends with him.

"Here ya go, son," said the Chef. He noticed that Kōshi had an angry but sad look on his face and added, "It's on the house this time."

"Thanks, mister."

He finished his meal and headed back to the training grounds. Yuae, Sukiko, and Maki were there already.

"There you are Kōshi. Ready to begin todays training," said Yuae.

"Yeah, let's get started."

The three of them formed a line across from Yuae. Ready to learn and master whatever she taught them.

"Alright, today will be the last day of formal training before the Chunin Exams. Whether you pass or fail doesn't matter. After the exams you will no longer be under my leadership. You will be assigned a team Captain. And depending on your success or failure at the Exams will dictate what kind of missions you go on. Got it?"

The three eager students shouted, "Got it."

"Okay, so today's task is simple. Hit me."

The three genin leaped out of sight and into the forestation behind them. _It seems too simple,_ thought Kōshi, _oh well, sometimes the simplest lessons are the most important._ Sukiko landed next to him.

"Where is Maki," questioned Sukiko.

"Not sure, though if I know that idiot he's probably trying to sneak around and get the jump on her."

"Doesn't he know that this is a team exercise?"

Before Kōshi could retort Maki leaped from the bushes behind Yuae and started yelling. Fist clenched behind his head sprinting towards his target. Noticing the not-so-surprise attack from behind, Yuae sidestepped and caused Maki to fall face first into the dirt.

"It isn't going to be that easy."

Maki quickly got back on his feet and started swinging wildly at his Sensei, who gracefully dodged every attack. Then countered with an outstretched foot at his shins. Causing him to once again fall into the dirt. She walked over to him and calmly readied a single fist.

With a hand to his forehead Kōshi finally spoke, "I can't watch this. I'm going to help him."

Before Sukiko could argue he leapt out of the trees and onto the battlefield.

"Gah, you're both idiots," muttered Sukiko silently to herself.

As Yuae prepared to finish off her target Kōshi attacked with a leg sweep but was too slow for Yuae, who flipped back through the air landing a safe distance from her targets. Kōshi reached out a hand and helped Maki off of the ground. They looked at each other and nodded. Then sprinted in opposite directions. _Man, I really hope we're on the same page._ They stopped in a v shape in reference to Yuae, their target. Kōshi went first throwing up the signs for his ninjutsu attack,

"Water Style: Raging Waves."

A powerful blast of water came rushing out of his mouth towards Yuae, who was quick enough to dodge the damaging parts of the attack. But before she finished reacting to Kōshi's attack Maki had started his part.

"Lightning Style: Lightning Bolt"

As he did this he leaped and forcefully pointed the index and middle finger towards the target. When his arm was fully extended a flash of light and bolt of lightning shot from his fingertips. Yuae took a step back and the bolt hit the ground in front of her. After a second electricity shot up through her legs and she let out a painful grunt. Then leapt away. Kneeling and out of breath due to the electric shock she just received. Between breaths she spoke.

"Good job you two. Using your different chakra natures to your advantage. And creating an environment better suited to your needs. But you haven't hit me yet."

"That comes ne-," but he was cut off as Sukiko came flying through the air and landed a punch into Yuae's side, knocking her to the ground.

"I win," said Sukiko.

"Hey, what the hell. I was gonna do that," shot Kōshi.

"Well I did it first."

"Good job guys, great teamwork," said Yuae, still trying to catch her breath, "I wasn't going to tell you this, but if you weren't able to pass this test, I was going to pull you out of the Chunin Exams. But by using all you learned over the last year you were able to pull it off. Congratulations."

Yuae continued, "So dinner is on me tonight."

Kōshi and Maki high fived and started walking towards the exit. Sukiko started turning but Yuae put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey I wanted to talk to you in private for a minute."

"Sure, Sensei. What is it?"

"I have a proposition for you, said Yuae. Then after pausing continued, "well, every year the hokage askes all the teachers if there are any recommendations for any of the village's special units."

"And?"

"I recommended you for ANBU Black Ops. While Kōshi is a great shinobi. Even better than me in his quick thinking and leadership skills. He doesn't have the special qualities that you have. Which is why I did it. And if you perform well in the Chunin Exams you will qualify for the training. Now this doesn't mean that you'll just get in. There will be months of rigorous training like you've never done before. But I believe you can do it. And I was in it for six years, trust me."

"Hmm, it is something I've always wanted to do."

"Well take your time. I understand it is a big decision."

"You should ask Kōshi too. He might not know it but he's already surpassed me as a ninja. I just don't tell him that so it doesn't go to his head. He would do just as well as me."

"Alright, depending on how he does at the Exams will dictate if I recommend him too. But I need to know that you will still join even if he can't.

"Agreed."

"Alright, let's catch up with the boys before they buy up all the food."

They walked towards the exit of the training grounds.

##

Kōshi and Maki were almost to the place Yuae said they were having dinner. Maki was rambling on about something but Kōshi was deep in thought. Like he usually was when walking. _I wonder why they didn't walk with us._ They stopped in front of the restaurant and Kōshi looked up. _Yakiniku Q, hmm._ Kōshi had passed this place many times on his way to Ichiraku but had never gone inside. It was too expensive for someone on the income of a genin. They waited a few minutes until Yuae and Sukiko arrived and went inside together.

"Table for four please," said Yuae politely.

"Yes, right this way ma'am," responded the waiter.

They took a seat at the booth and ordered their drinks. Everything was silent until Sukiko spoke up,

"Who are those people over there? The table with the fat one, the depressed one, and the blonde."

"Oh, that's Team Asuma. They'll be another team competing in the Chunin Exams."

Kōshi didn't pay much mind but a thought crossed his mind, _Wait, blonde girl? Ino? Depressed guy? Fat guy?_ Kōshi turned around to look at them then turned back. _Does that mean she's Ino Yamanaka? Damn, that means she's a part of Ino-Shika-Cho. Why didn't I put two and two together? Stupid. Well, she might be more of a threat than I originally anticipated. Better get on her good side._

"Good. That's just another team we'll destroy," said Sukiko.

"Alright, here is your food," said the waiter.

They proceeded to eat and no one really spoke for the rest of dinner. Maki went back to his parents' house and Yuae went to her boyfriends. Leaving Kōshi and Sukiko to head to their house alone. By the time they arrived it was late and Kōshi decided to go to bed. Thinking about the blonde girl and the Chunin exams before dosing off for the night.


End file.
